Ruthies Problem
by brokenglass
Summary: Ruthie becomes depressed and turns to selfinjury. She tried to kill herself and then something happened in councelling. Simon tryed to help her, and then Peter found out. Chandler is caught..For now and Ruthie will soon go to group therapy. Ch. 32 is up.
1. Ruthie's Problem

Ruthie's Problem

Again, Ruthie was crying alone to herself, her face buried in her pillow to drown out her sobs so her sister Lucy could sleep. Ruthie had cried herself to sleep every night this week. She was very depressed, her family didn't notice, though, because around them she was always so happy, she was tired of putting on this phoney act for them, but she didn't want to bother them with her problems, they didn't need anything else to happen, they were preoccupied with other things.

Annie and Eric, Ruthie's parents, were trying to sort out her grandpa's will and stuff, he had died a few weeks ago. Mary, Ruthie's oldest sister, was living in Ft. Lauderdale, so she couldn't help. Matt, Ruthie's oldest brother, was married last year to Sarah and they lived in New York where the attended medical school. Lucy and Simon, Ruthie's older brother and sister, were busy with they're lives too. Lucy was engaged to Kevin, he lived in their garage, and she was busy planning a wedding and Simon was in High School, so he didn't want to be bothered with family things. Robbie was away for 3 weeks visiting his mom, Robbie moved in with the Camden's a few years ago, and he was like family, the twins, Sam and David were only four, they wouldn't understand Ruthie's problems.

When Ruthie came down to breakfast the next morning, no one was there except Simon. Eric was at the church, and Annie had to go to the lawyers and the twins were with her. Everyone else was busy or not living there. Simon drove Ruthie to school and she sat down by herself by a tree before the bell rang. She took out a notebook and began to write poetry. She was very good at writing. She wrote 3, then put her notebook away. A group of people from her school walked by, and said "hey monkey lover", "you're so ugly", "loser" and a whole bunch of other things, no one liked Ruthie anymore, and she wasn't sure why not. Her ex-friends hated her, her family was too bust for her and her grandpa died. She was about to cry so she ran into the bathroom and started bawling. She sat on the toilet seat and moved her wrist to the sharp edge on the toilet paper dispenser. She slid her wrist up and down the edge 5 times. She looked down at her wrist, blood was coming out of different scratches, she took a piece of toilet paper, wiped the blood, pulled her sweater down and headed to class. She usually did this at least once a day, she started it about a month and a half ago. Both her wrists now had cuts and scars all over them, it was hard to cover them up but she didn't mind because the pain helped her clear her mind. 


	2. The Party

Chapter 2- The Party

After school, Simon drove Ruthie home and again no one was home. The living room was so dark, she was almost nervous to walk in there. She turned to Simon, who was smirking. She turned on the light and everyone jumped out, Mom, Dad, Matt, Sarah, Mary, Robbie, Lucy, Kevin, Ben and Sam and David.

"Happy Birthday Ruthie" everyone shouted. Ruthie forgot it was even her birthday. Wow, she thought. For presents she got some clothes from people, CDs, make-up and her mom and dad got her a dress for her grade 8 graduation this year. "wow, it's so pretty" Ruthie said. "Go Ahead, try it on" everyone said. "uh.. No thanks not now" Ruthie said and ran up to her room. "I'll go" Annie said. Ruthie was sitting on her bed when Annie came in. "honey, if you don't like it, we can take it back, it's okay." Ruthie looked at her "No, I jus, I just don't wanna try it on right now, with everyone here, maybe later, maybe" Ruthie said. "Ok, well at least come back to the party" Annie replied. "No thanks, I'm tired, I think I'll just take a bath and then go to bed" Ruthie said, Annie nodded and left. Ruthie realised she could no longer cut her wrist, at least not now, since she had to eventually wear the dress. It actually was a nice dress. Baby blue with spaghetti straps, and long so it covered all her legs. Legs, Ruthie thought, I can cut my legs. She took a quick bath then lay in bed. She smirked to herself for a while and then fell asleep.

When she awoke the next morning, she looked at the calender and realised it was Friday. Yes, almost the weekend. Everyone was still at the house, they weren't going home till Sunday. Mary drove her to school, since she was there and wanted to spend some time with Ruthie. "Why didn't you want to try on the dress, kiddo?" Mary asked in the car. "oh, no reason really, I was just tired" Ruthie said, this was getting harder to cover up she thought tp herself.

At school, the same things as usual happened, all the "cool" kids teased her, she wrote some poems and this time in the washroom, she cut the top of her leg. She couldn't wait to go home, she hated school, no more school for 2 days, she couldn't help but smile.

MORE TO COME


	3. The Cut

Chapter 3- The cut

That night, Robbie walks by Ruthie's room and hears her sobbing. He then realizes what must be going on. He deicides to drive her to school the next day to talk to her.

In the car on the way to school, Robbie asked why she wouldn't try on the dress yesterday. "because I was too tired and I didn't want to show everyone, I want it to sort of be a surprise" Ruthie said. Robbie nodded, but he couldn't bring himself to ask her what he needed to, he diecided to ask later on, at home. They reached the school and Ruthie got out and said bye. Robbie stayed in the parking lot to sort of spy on her.

Ruthie sat down by the same tree and pulled out her notebook and wrote "alone in a crowd, alone in the world" and then on the last word her pen slipped as she noticed the kids coming near her. She shoved the notebook into her bag. The kids were extremely mean today, they called her garbage and threw trash at her. She ran to the washroom and did something she knew was wrong, instead of cutting into her leg, she cut really deep into her wrist. She didn't care if she died anymore.


	4. Robbie's Story

Chapter 4-Robbie story

Ruthie wrapped her wrist in a bit of toilet paper and she walked down the hall to go to class, she didn't know why she wanted to go to class with that, just knowing anyone could see. I guess I'm trying to prove a point, Ruthie thought. But as she got to the door, pain was blinding her. She didn't want to die anymore, she screamed. Her sleeve was soaked in blood. The teacher took one look at her and told some kid named Josh to tell the principal to call 911. That was the last thing Ruthie could remember, because she fainted. 

When she woke up later, she was in the hospital. All of her family surrounded her. They all looked so worried and upset, especially Robbie. Annie was sobbing "why Ruthie? Why did you do this to yourself??" Ruthie couldn't even answer, she had no clue why she did this. Just as Eric was about to speak Robbie just started to cry and ran out, Eric ran after him. "Robbie! Wait!" He called out, his voiced echoed through the hallway. Robbie stopped, looked at him and said "this is all my fault, I knew, I knew" and then he slid down the wall, looking terribly upset. "you, you knew that she was going to do this, you knew and you never told us, I can't believe you. Robbie she could have died. And you knew, why didn't you say anything" Eric yelled. "I didn't know she was going to try and kill herself, I just knew that she was, that she was" he started crying. In a quieter voice he said "I knew she was cutting herself. I wanted to talk to her about it, to make sure. I was going to do it this morning but I couldn't bring myself to do it.." Eric looked sort of shocked, he stared at Robbie and said "she, she's, she's cutting? Are you sure? How do you know". Robbie looked up, "I know, I never saw her or anything, but I could tell, because, well, because I used to do it."


	5. The Hospital

Chapter 5-The hospital

"you, you, di- did??" Eric stammered. "yeah, I did, for about 2 years when I was 13-15" Robbie answered. "uhh, rev. Camden, I don't want to end this so quickly, but I need to talk to Ruthie, can I?" Robbie asked. "uhh.. Sure, sure Robbie, I'll tell Annie and the kids." Eric answered. "thanks" Robbie said. Eric left the room. 

Robbie waited a few minutes then headed down the hall to Ruthie's hospital room. No one was there so he just walked in. "Ruthie?" he said. Ruthie looked up from the bed. "pleas don't give me another lecture about how stupid this was or how wrong it is, I have already heard it plenty of times today. And please don't say you feel bad for me and you're sorry and everything, because I just can't believe it's true" Ruthie said. " ok, I won't but I do need to say a few things Ruthie, I feel like this is all my fault. I know it's not, but I do take some responsibility for this. You see I wanted to talk to you this morning, I wanted to ask you something but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted to ask you if you have been cutting yourself because I suspect that you have. I know you know this is wrong, and I know that Lucy's best friend used to do this, Mary told me. But I know the feeling and the addictiveness of it. The pain just clears your mind. I can still remember it." Robbie told her. Ruthie seemed very interested "you, you did it Robbie?? When?"

"when I was 13, I did It for 2 years. It started when I fell of my bike, I had done that many times before but this time it was so different. The pain cleared all the bad thoughts in my mind, that's when it started I guess." Robbie replied. " oh, I know what you mean. it kind of started the same way with me, you know, I was cutting a bagel in half when I sliced my finger, and you know the rest I guess. What happened to you, why did you stop?" Ruthie asked. "this hospital setting is familiar to me, I ended up here once, I was in counselling for a year and I half. I learned a lot in counselling. Robbie answered. "counselling I forget" Ruthie said. Robbie nodded, they heard a knock at the door. "Can we talk to her?" Eric asked. Robbie slipped out.

"honey, I don't know if the 10 stitches taught you anything about today, maybe made you realize you were more then, more then nothing, you weren't worthless. You will have to go to counselling though, you know that Ruthie, how is your wrist?" Eric asked. "my wrist hurts, but it's ok. Yes, I learned a lot from this , when I started to feel faint I knew I didn't want to die. I know I have to go to counselling now, and did Robbie talk to you?" Annie, still sobbing, nodded.

Annie and Eric left and the kids got to talk to their sister, one by one, Lucy came in first. "oh Ruthie, are you ok?" she started crying "I love you Ruthie, I love you so much, I wish I had have been there for you. Please you have to stop this, don't be like Nicole" Lucy said. Ruthie hated what she did to her family. Lucy left and Matt came in with Sarah. "hey, kid, I'm so sorry that I haven't been around you life, and that things have sucked for you. I feel awful. I'd really miss you if you died. You have so much to life for. I love you so much" Sarah nodded. Ruthie couldn't take much more. She nodded. They left and Mary came in. "sorry I haven't been around kid, I've missed you guys. I really would miss you if you died. I know you know that what you did was wrong and stupid, and I hope you never do it again. I love you sis." Ruthie started crying . Mary left. Simon came in. He looked more mad then sad. "what did you think you were doing? It was really stupid and selfish. We would all have been so upset and missed you. When we all found out we were bawling our eyes out. First dads surgery, then grandpa dies and now this. I can't take much more of it. I hope you love us enough to never do anything like that again. Cause I love you a lot sis." he started to cry. "I'm sorry and I love you all a lot. I know I was stupid and selfish and I was so scared and I'll never do anything like that again!" Ruthie said. She yawned. "you need to get some rest, it has been a long day. Goodnight kid." Simon said and then left.


	6. Chandler

****

Chapter 6-

When Ruthie awoke the next morning, Annie was sleeping in the chair beside her. She looked at the clock in the hospital room. It was 10:00. She would be leaving her soon and then school and *counselling* . She looked at her wrist again it was all bandaged up and it hurt. A lot. Annie woke with a start. 

"mom?" Ruthie said.

"hey honey, how are you today?" Annie asked.

"fine and you? Oh and mom, is, is dad going to counsel me??" Ruthie asked.

"I don't think he is honey, I think it would be too hard for him. Do you understand?" Annie said.

"yes, I thought he wouldn't be. So who is??" Ruthie asked.

"chandler" Annie said.

"him, but why? I thought dad hated him!" Ruthie said.

"he is doing it for free as a favour to your father" Annie explained. Ruthie nodded.

"I'm going to phone your father. You are leaving this afternoon. You will go to school on Thursday, you can have tomorrow off, to meet with Chandler, is that alright??" Annie asked. Ruthie nodded again.


	7. Meeting

****

Chapter 7

*sorry the last chapter was so short. I think this is gonna twist a bit but I don't know.*

So, Chandler will be counselling me, Ruthie thought, I'll have some fun with him, he he, besides I don't need counselling anyway. I'm not crazy. He he. 

"Hey Ruthie, ready to go home. I hope I never have to see you again in here." the nurse said. Ruthie nodded, she was used to just nodding when someone spoke. Eric and Annie came in, Ruthie jumped out of bed, her wrist was so itchy because it had started healing. On the way home no one spoke. 

When they arrived at the house, everyone smiled at Ruthie and said "hi" in such cheerful voices. It was so scary. Ruthie just went up to her room, took the stuff she had from the hospital and put it away she lay on her bed for a while, almost crying. Annie came up and said "Ruthie honey, I know you've only been here for a few minutes but you have you're first session with Chandler today."

"okay but how long do I have to go there for, mom??" Ruthie asked

"as long as it takes, now come on" Annie replied.

When they arrived at the church, Ruthie got out and walked in, Annie followed her, showed her the room and left. Chandler was sitting on his desk. "I've been waiting for you Ruthie." he said with a very creepy look in his eye.


	8. Scared

Chapter 8

**sorry the chapters are so short, I'll try and make them longer**

He kept looking at her, up and down. She was a little freaked out by this, but she just looked up and said hi. "When your dad told me you needed counselling I jumped at the opportunity of doing it." he kind of laughed. 

"umm.. Yeah, so do you ask me questions or do I just talk?" Ruthie asked, just wanting to get this over with.

"go ahead and talk, Ruthie" Chandler said and walked around the room and stopped behind her and started running his fingers through her hair. He moved his arm down and started massaging her shoulders. 

"umm what are you doing?" Ruthie asked.

"oh, this is supposed to help you relax Ruthie" Chandler said.

"do you have to do it, cause it's kind of weird" Ruthie said

Chandler squeezed her shoulders really hard and said "yes Ruthie I do"

"ok well," she said, sounding scared, "I don't know where to start" 

"don't worry about it then" he said, and took a seat next to her. "so Ruthie, you look very good today." He kept staring at her chest.

Ruthie was very uncomfortable, so she crossed her arms over her chest. Chandler grabbed her arms in one hand and twisted them. 

"OUCH" Ruthie screamed, "LET GO OF ME!! STOP, PLEASE!!" Ruthie pleaded, she was now crying.

"oh shut up" Chandler said, he put his hand over her mouth. "you know what you talk too much" he pushed her down. He duct taped her mouth and then he put his hands under her shirt and started massaging her chest. Ruthie was screaming but you could barely hear it. Outside, you could hear a car pulling up. He took his hands out of her shirt, ripped the tape of and told her not to tell. 

"I'm never coming back, I'm going to tell" Ruthie said.

"who'll believe you, they'll just think you want out of counselling" Ruthie sighed, he was right, and she would have to come back, what if he raped her, what if she was pregnant?! She had just gotten her period last week and was so excited but now she wished she didn't. Annie walked in.

"ready to go, Ruthie?" Annie asked.

Ruthie jumped up and almost ran out. She was so scared. When they got home Ruthie ran upstairs and started bawling her eyes out. Lucy walked in their room.

"hey Ruthie, what's wrong?" she asked.

Ruthie looked up from her pillow, her face covered in tears, "nothing, nothing at all" Ruthie replied.

Lucy sat down and opened her arms, she gave Ruthie a big hug. 

"whatever it is, it'll be ok, I promise." Lucy said.

Ruthie nodded, but she wasn't so sure.

**

Ruthie had never felt this way, so sad, so scared, so alone. She had felt sad before, but not like this. This was, this was awful. All she felt was coldness, darkness. She was so scared of what happened. She never wanted to go back there. Never. She went to the bathroom to take a shower, and she saw Lucy's razor just lying on the edge of the tub. She figured no one would see a little cut on her leg. She put the sharp, metal against her leg. She pulled the razor back, then pushed it forward. She repeated this motion a few more times and then she pulled the blade away, she rinsed the blood off the razor. She looked down at her leg, watched the blood drip down her skin. The blood was so red. The pain numbed her thoughts. She loved the feeling. She wished it would never go away. After a few minutes she cleaned her leg up and then finished up in the shower. 

**

The next day, as she awoke. She remembered today she would have to got to school. She wondered what people would think of her, and then, she sighed, she would have to see Chandler again. She fought to hold back tears.


	9. School

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. 

Chapter 9- School

Ruthie woke up at 7a.m and went to stairs, still tired and dreading the thought of going to school. She remembered when she was happy about going to school, that seemed like a dream now.   


Simon came down the stairs, all dressed and sat down beside her. "Hey Ruthie, are you reading for your first day back?" He asked.

"No" She answered, plainly. 

Simon nodded and Ruthie went upstairs to get dressed and ready for school. She entered her room, took off her pajamas and looked at her leg. It was a deep, dark red and fairly long. She smirked to herself. She got dressed in a pair of jeans and a new blue T-shirt. She went in to the bathroom and while she was brushing her hair, noticed the large scars on her wrist from when she tried to kill herself. She deicided to throw on a sweater, so she ran in to her room, grabbed one and finished getting ready. She went downstairs where Simon was waiting.

"Ready?" He asked

Ruthie nodded, and they went in to his car. Neither of them talked the whole way their. Ruthie suddenly remembered what Robbie said, she'd forgotten all about it. He used to cut too, but not anymore. He'd had therapy. Ruthie's so called "therapy" was just making her feel worse. 

They arrived at school and Ruthie got out. Everyone avoided Ruthie in the yard, no one said anything mean to her, no one said anything at all to her. Inside the school, in her classes the teachers were being so nice, they were treating like really fragile glass, and just one wrong thing, she'd break. The day was going awful. Nothing was how it was supposed to be and even though no one was teasing her, she hated it more then she hated it before. She couldn't wait to leave

*********

Finally, school was over, yet Ruthie still wasn't happy. She would have to go see Chandler, again. She was so afraid. Simon was going to take her there, and pick her up after. When Ruthie got into the car, Simon noticed she looked very scared, maybe someone threatened to hurt her or something. He never suspected she was afraid of Chandler.

"what's wrong Ruthie? Are you ok? Did something happen at school?" Simon asked

"I'm fine, nothings wrong, no nothing happened at school" Ruthie answered. 

Simon knew that something was up but he didn't want to pry at her. Ruthie desperately needed to tell someone. She could see the church up ahead. She was so scared. 

"Simon?" 

"Yeah?"

"Never mind" she said. She couldn't tell, he wouldn't believe her. The car stopped, she got out and Simon drove away, still wondered what was bothering her and desperately wondered what she was going to say.


	10. Rape and Confessions

Disclaimer- I own none of these characters.

Chapter 10- rape and confessions

Ruthie walked in to the church, down the hall into chandlers office. She was walking as slowly as she could. She was not looking forward to this. A tear streaked down her face and more started coming she was bawling her eyes out as she walked in. 

"shut up, Ruthie" Chandler said from inside the room "get in here"

She walked in. He got up and again started to massage her shoulders.

"stop it" Ruthie screamed "you know you don't have to do that, nor are you allowed to."

He pushed her on the couch and ducked taped her mouth. You could her Ruthie's attempt to scream through the tape. He undressed her and himself and the he raped her. Just like that. Ruthie was pushing him away and trying to scream. He slapped her every time she tried to stop him. It was awful. He got off of her, got dressed and left. Ruthie got dressed and started crying so hard. She ripped the tape off and went out side to wait for Simon. He wouldn't be there for another half and hour, but she didn't want to be inside that church with Chandler. She wished he would die. She felt so dirty after what happened the first thing she was going to do when she got home was take a shower. She was still bawling her eyes out when Simon's car pulled in to the lot. She ran to the car.

"what are you doing outside, now? Where's Chandler? You still have fifteen minutes. Ruthie why are crying? What happened? Talk to me" Simon asked.

"just drive, please" Ruthie said.

Simon started the car and took Ruthie home. 

"I'm going upstairs to take a shower" Ruthie said.

"I have to go to the store for mom, I'll be back in a half an hour. Were going to take then, OK? Something's up, Ruthie. And I really want you to tell me, because whatever it is, I can tell your scared and your hurt. So please talk to me later OK? Ruthie?." Simon said.

Ruthie nodded, she knew she needed to tell someone, and she knew Simon cared, she was closer to him then some others in her family because they were closer in age then she was with others and they would always play together when she was little.

**

She went upstairs and into the shower. She immediately knew what she was going to do. She grabbed Lucy's razor and started cutting up her leg. She couldn't even count how many there were. Her leg was all bloody, but since they weren't very deep she knew that she'd be OK. She washed her body 7 more times and got out, she went to her room and sat on her bed. Simon came upstairs, knocked on the door.

"can I come in? can we talk?" Simon asked.

"yeah come in" Ruthie replied.

Simon walked in. He sat on Lucy's bed.

"Ruthie, please tell me what happened. Something is bothering you and I can see that it hurts you. Please talk to me, I'm your brother and I love you."

Ruthie took a deep breath. "Chandler, Chandler…" she broke into tears, unable to speak at the moment.

"what, what did Chandler do. I've always hated that guy, what did he do"

Through the tears Ruthie told Simon everything that happened from before she tried to kill herself to today. Simon cried through some of it and when she finished, he hugged her and said he was sorry.

"I have to tell mom and dad, you know that right. I'll tell them if you don't want to but someone has too. And then you'll never see Chandler again. Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me. I love you Ruthie and I'm so sorry that all this happened to you.."

"I love you too Simon, and you tell mom and dad, I'll be there, but I don't want to say it again. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you before."

Simon left the room and Ruthie followed.


	11. Testing and Bonding

Disclaimer- I own none of these characters.

Chapter 11-Testing and Bonding

"Mom, Dad come here" Simon called out. Annie and Eric obeyed and went in to the living room and sat down.

"What is it Simon?" Eric asked

"It's about Ruthie" Simon replied

"What is it?" Annie asked, nervously.

Simon told them the whole story just as Ruthie told him. Annie was crying so hard. Eric had tears coming down his cheeks and a look of hate in his eyes that Simon and Ruthie had never seen before. 

"Simon and Ruthie go upstairs for a minute, I need to talk to your father" Annie said they both left.

***

Upstairs, all the Camden's and Robbie and Kevin were standing at the top trying to listen.

"what happened?" Lucy asked.

Before anyone got a chance to speak, Eric was screaming and yelling about how much he hated Chandler and Annie was trying to calm him down but you could hear the anger in her voice too. Ruthie went up to the attic, her and Lucy's room, and started crying on the bed. Everyone ran after her and sat down own the floor or a bed, wherever they could fit. 

"please tell us, what happened down there" Lucy asked, again.

Simon looked over at Ruthie "would you like to tell them, or do you want me too Ruthie" 

Ruthie took a deep breath. "I will" she said and told the story for the second time, less than she told Simon, though, mostly just about the counselling. Simon realized this and smiled to himself. Lucy cried really hard and kept mumbling "my baby sister". By the end, the all had tears in there eyes and Matt stood up and very seriously said "I'll kill him, I really will" 

"Matt, stop, you're making this worse then it has to be" Simon said. Matt sat down.

Annie came up the stairs. "Ruthie, come here please." Ruthie walked over and Annie gave her a huge hug. They went down stairs and Annie told her they were going to the hospital. They got in the car and silently drove.

**

Annie walked in to the emergency room and asked where to get her daughter tested for STD's and pregnancy. She would have known, as she has been there so much but in 4 years the hospital had changed a lot. The nurse gave Ruthie a really dirty look and pointed Annie to the direction of triage. They ran down the hall and when they arrived the lady gave Ruthie another dirty look and mumbled something about today's teens being sluts. 

"Sorry, you need an appointment" the lady, named Jill (the name was on her badge) said.

"My daughter was raped and you're fucking telling me I need an appointment" Annie said. Ruthie had never heard her mother curse before. Jill looked kind of shocked.

"Oh, sorry. Right this way" she said and took her to a room. A doctor walked in soon after.

"Hello. I am Dr. Benson. And who are you" He said

" I'm Annie Camden and this is my daughter Ruthie. I need you to check for STD's and see if my little girl is pregnant" Annie said and started crying again.

Dr. Benson handed Ruthie a cup and showed her the bathroom. "You need to pee in this, OK. Put the lid on when your done and bring it out. A few minutes later Ruthie came out. The doctor finished up, and said they could go. 

"Thank you Dr." Annie said. Ruthie nodded. They left. 

**

Back at home, Simon went downstairs to see what Eric was doing. He looked awful.

"Dad are you ok?" Simon asked 

"No son, I'm not. I'm very angry at god for letting this happen to my little girl and I'm angrier still and Chandler for doing it. That man was, is and always will be a fucking bastard." Eric started to cry. I'm sorry Simon, I didn't mean to swear. It just slipped out. I'm really upset right now. Annie took her to the hospital. What if she has AIDS or she is pregnant. She could die! Oh, I'm sorry Simon, you didn't need to hear that. Don't worry, she'll be OK."

"No dad, you're right. I forgot about that. She could die" Simon burst in to tears as well "I'd miss her so much." he fought through tears. Eric opened his arms and him and Simon shared a hug. 

"I'd miss her to Simon" he said. "We all would"

**

Annie and Ruthie came home and everyone was on the couches in the living room.

"I'm going upstairs, I'm tired" Ruthie said. They nodded. As soon as Ruthie left the questioning began. Simon slipped upstairs just as his mother said "We'll find out tomorrow."

**

Simon entered Ruthie's room. 

"Can we talk?" Ruthie nodded.

Simon sat on Lucy's bed.

"Something else bugging you, Ruthie?"

"this is all my fault" Ruthie said starting to cry.

"how so?"

"if I hadn't started cutting, and tried to kill myself, then I wouldn't have ended up in counselling, and you know"

"Ruthie, this isn't your fault. Trust me. It's not your fault. Uhh.. Ruthie. I have a question."

"Yes?" 

"Do you still, umm, cut?"

"I don't want to, but I have, only after counselling"

"Show me."

Ruthie lifted her pant leg. Simon looked shocked at first but he was OK after a while. Lots of scars and cuts filled her leg. She lifted her other pant leg and it was the same. 

"I want to stop Simon, I really do. But I don't want to go to counselling anymore. It makes everything worse."

"I know Ruthie, you should go to bed now. Goodnight." Simon hugged her. "I love you Ruthie."

"I love you too Simon. Goodnight" Ruthie answered.


	12. Dying?

Disclaimer: I own none the characters.

Chapter 12

The next morning as Ruthie woke, she noticed Lucy wasn't in the next bed. She got up and noticed no one was in there bed's. She began walking downstairs.

"Am I going to die" she thought. She felt her cheeks burn and hot tears stinging her eyes and finally streaking down her cheeks. She sat on the stairs. 

"I'm gonna die, I know it. I'll die and it'll be all my fault." she cried more. She hated thinking this way but she just knew it was true.

***

She entered the living room. Her mother and father were in the living room with Sam and David. 

"Where is everyone?"

"School, Work. It's Friday you know" Eric said.

"So" Ruthie looked worried "Why am I here?"

"We wanted to talk to you" Annie said.

"I am going to die aren't I?" Ruthie asked, shaking.


	13. Police

Disclaimer- I own none of these characters.

Hey, uhh.. This story may take some weird twists, or not. So bear with me. Please tell me what you think should happen in your reviews. Sorry the last chapter was so short and sorry this is short.

Chapter 13

"No honey, you're not going to die. Not now, I promise. But you are, well you are pregnant" Eric replied to his terribly upset daughter. Ruthie took a deep breath and the colour came back in to her face. 

"Are you OK?" Annie asked.

"I am now" Ruthie answered "But I don't want to have a baby, mom. I'm too young" tears welled up in her eyes. 

Annie looked at her and firmly said "I know, but you must. I don't approve of abortions, so you will have this baby"

Ruthie burst in to tears. She didn't want to have a baby. All of a sudden there was a knock at the door, and the three ran to answer it. It was Detective Michaels, Kevin and Roxanne. 

"Hello" Annie said "What are you three doing here" Annie and Eric looked worried.

"The hospital phoned us about a rape case and they told us it was Ruthie, so we had to come to talk to her." Detective Michaels said. 

"Ruthie, We need to know who raped you" Roxanne said, in a very kind voice.

"Come in and sit down" Eric offered. They all walked in and sat on the couches in the living room.

"Ruthie, please tell us" Kevin urged.

"Chandler" Ruthie replied in a tiny voice.

Roxanne looked shocked. "Not Chandler from church!?" 

Ruthie nodded. 

"Tell us what happened, please" Detective Michaels asked.

Ruthie went over the story again. Roxanne couldn't believe that the Chandler she'd gone out with would do this. No one could really believe him would. Lucy thought he was so nice after their night together. But they all looked at him differently now. Detective Michaels wrote everything Ruthie said in a notebook. 

"We're sorry this happened to you, Ruthie and we're going to arrest Chandler now, ok?" Roxanne said. 

Ruthie nodded. Everyone stood up. 

"Thank you for everything guys." Eric said. 

The three cops nodded and left the house.


	14. Help?

Disclaimer- I own none of these characters.

Chapter 14

"See Ruthie, everything will be OK." Annie said. 

"No, mom, it won't. I don't want to have this baby. It wasn't my choice to be.. raped and it's not my choice to get pregnant. But it should be my choice to have this baby." Ruthie said.

"Well honey. I'm sorry but your mother and I don't believe in abortion. That's final. Now go upstairs." Eric said. Ruthie ran upstairs, crying. 

She was on her way to her bedroom when she bumped in to Simon. 

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I'm pregnant and mom's making me have the baby." she started to cry harder and ran up the stairs. Simon followed. He still looked kind of shocked .

"Your pregnant" He replied quietly, it was more a statement then a question, though. Ruthie nodded.

"And I don't want to have the baby. I'm too young for a child. I can barely take care of me, I can't take care of a child. And I could die giving birth. It would ruin my life, and besides, baby's are supposed to come into loving family's. but theirs just me. No dad. And I'm too young. I really don't want to have a baby."

Simon looked at her. "You don't have too keep it. They have places you can drop it off, no questions asked. The people are- well you can drop it off"

"the thing you don't talk about?? You dropped of a baby? Who's? Yours??" Ruthie asked.

"never mind and don't mention it ever again to anyone, promise?" Simon answered.

"I promise." Ruthie replied.

"It's not mine though. So anyway, there are other options, you don't have to keep it." Simon said.

"I know, but I don't want to have it. I could die having it. But mom and dad don't believe in abortion. Life sucks" Ruthie replied.

"I know. I'm going to bed now, please don't hurt yourself." Simon said.

"I don't want to Simon, I really don't but I can't help it, I need to." Ruthie replied.

Simon nodded "please try" he said. He started to leave.

"Simon?" Ruthie said.

"yeah?" he answered.

"I need help." she replied. 

" I know" he said then he walked out.


	15. Help Yourself

Disclaimer- I do not own 7th Heaven or any of the characters.

Sorry this chapter is kind of weird.

Chapter 15- Help yourself

After Simon left the room, Ruthie shoved her head in to the pillow and started crying. She wanted to stop, she really and truly did. She thought for a while, and then thought of something. She heard Simon go downstairs. She went in to the washroom.

***

Downstairs, Eric & Annie were talking.

"Ruthie's pretty upset about this pregnancy thing, Annie" Eric said.

Annie sighed. "I know Eric, but I really don't believe in abortion. Ohh.. I wish this wasn't happening to her, and it's all my fault. I made her go see him" Annie began to cry.

"It's not your fault. Trust me Annie. It's not your fault. It's all Chandler's fault, not yours" Eric said. "Now, Let's go to bed." The two went upstairs.

*** 

The next morning, Lucy woke up and went to take a shower. She was about to get in and shave her legs, when she noticed something.

"Hey!" She screamed "Where's my razor??"

***

Simon woke up early and when he opened his drawer to get ready, he smiled. He walked out of the room and gave Ruthie a big hug, she smiled.

"I love you Ruthie" 

"I love you too Simon"


	16. Gone

Chapter 16

Simon walked over to Lucy, who was still looking for her razor.

"Hey, uhh, Lucy, do you mind not using your razor for a while?" Simon asked.

"Why..? Do you have it??" Lucy replied .

"Yes, Ruthie gave it to me this morning. She needs me to keep it for a while, can't you just get that Nair stuff or whatever?" Simon said.

Lucy sighed. "I guess" She said "If it helps my little sister get better"

"Thank you so much, Lucy" Simon hugged her "I love you"

Lucy smiled " I love you too."

*Ding Dong*

The doorbell rang downstairs. Annie walked over to the door and answered it. It was Roxanne & Kevin. They looked upset. Roxanne sighed.

"Mrs. Camden, we need to talk to you." Roxanne said.

"Mom" Kevin looked down at his feet "Chandler got away. We've been looking for him for days. He's left town. We're so sorry" 

Tears fell down Annie's pale cheeks. She nodded and closed the door. Eric walked over to Annie.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" He asked.

"Chand- Chandler- He's gone Eric. He got away. He's gone." She starting crying much harder. Eric couldn't move, he felt numb. 

"Who's going to tell Ruthie" He finally said. They both sighed.

"Ruthie, come down here please." Annie yelled.

Ruthie came running down the steps. When she saw Annie tear stained cheeks, she immediately knew something was wrong. She was nervous now, and she sat down on the couch in the living room. 

"Ruthie, sweetie, this is so hard for me." A tear fell across Eric's face "Ruthie, Chandler got, He got way. He left town. The cops can't find him, they searched for two days. "

Ruthie looked stunned. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. He was out there, somewhere, he could do it again. The room started to spin, all the colours mixed together. She could hear voices, but she couldn't make out the words. Now the sounds were mixing together, just like the colours had. She tried to stand up, her body was heavy, like bags of sand. She was very weak. She finally managed to stand and fell instantly to the ground. Now everything faded to black.


	17. Good Tears

Chapter 17

Ruthie woke up in a hospital. She looked over at the clock beside her bed. It said 10:30a.m. That's funny, she thought, I remember it being around 7p.m. She looked to the other side of her. Her mom was sleeping in a chair. She sat up. Annie was beginning to stir.

"Ruthie" Annie said, while yawning.

"Hey mom.. Umm.. What happened exactly" Ruthie asked.

"While, we told you about the cops not getting Chandler.. And you fainted. It was so scary. Are you OK?" Annie replied.

"Yeah." Ruthie said, she had just remembered about Chandler.

She heard a lot of chattering in the hall and then she saw her dad's face appear in the window, she knew all the Camden's had arrived. Eric came in.

"Hey sweetie, how are you feeling" Eric asked.

"I've been better, but I'm alright." Ruthie replied.

Eric nodded. "Is it OK if I let your siblings come see you. I'll send them one at a time, is that ok?" he asked.

Ruthie nodded and he went out and Lucy came in.

"Hey sis, how are you?" Lucy asked

"I'm alright, how are you?" Ruthie answered.

"I'm good. So, you had us all pretty scared when you fainted." Lucy said

Ruthie smiled a little. "It was pretty scary" She said.

"I'll bet" Lucy replied. 

Just then Kevin came in. It was his day off. 

"Hey Ruthie, how are you feeling?" Kevin asked.

"I'm ok, and you?" Ruthie replied.

"I'm good . Look, we're, well, we're really sorry about Chandler getting away, me and the force, and is there anything I can do?" He said.

"It's ok Kevin, I know you guys tried. Thanks anyway." Ruthie said and then she hugged Kevin and then Lucy and then they left. Ben walked in.

"Hey Ruthie" Ben said.

Ruthie smiled "Hey Ben, I thought you were in New York" She said.

"Well, I have a few weeks off, so I decided to come visit you guys" Ben replied.

"Great" Ruthie said, she loved Ben. He was so sweet.

Ben smiled. "So are you feeling any better?" He asked.

"Yeah, and how are you feeling" Ruthie asked him.

"Well I'm great. I got myself a really nice girlfriend. Even Kevin thinks so." Ben said proudly.

"Well, that's great. I'm happy for you." Ruthie said.

"Well I got to go. Simon wants to see you. Give me a hug." Ben said. Ruthie hugged him. He left. Simon came in. 

"Hey Ruthie. How are you?" Simon asked.

"I'm good and you" Ruthie answered, again.

"Alright. So, Pretty weird night?" Simon asked.

"Definitely. So did you hear? Ben's got a new girlfriend." Ruthie said.

"Yeah, I know, and Mary has a new boyfriend." Simon said.

"Who is it?" Ruthie asked.

"Someone named Freddie Robson. He's the same age as her and he's a doctor. She called last night." Simon said.

"Cool" Ruthie answered. She hugged Simon. Eric, Annie and the twins came in. 

"Ruthie!!" Sam and David said at the same time.

"Hey guys!" Ruthie said.

"Are you better now Ruthie?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, are you better?" David asked, also.

"Yeah, Don't worry guys, I'm fine. When can we leave??" Ruthie asked. 

"Right now." Eric said. 

They got all of their stuff together and as they were leaving the hospital a nurse approached them. 

"Ruthie Camden?" She said.

Ruthie nodded. 

"You were in here a while ago for some test's? Well, we gave you the wrong results. We got them mixed up. We just found out a few hours ago. I'm sorry for the mix up. Ruthie isn't pregnant, but if she could come in later for some more tests because we lost some of the results, that'd be great. I'll let you get home now. Goodbye" The nurse said, then left.

Ruthie was so happy. He smiled and then started crying.

"Good tears?" Simon asked.

"Very good tears" Ruthie replied and hugged her brother.

Ben, Kevin and Lucy took Kevin's car to Pete's Pizza while Simon, Ruthie, Sam, David and they're parents got in the mini-van and they drove home.


	18. Everywhere & Meeting Peter

Chapter 18-

When they got home, Ruthie went up to her bedroom. She looked out the window. She was so happy, she wanted to run around and sing but she tried to stay calm. Then, she saw it, or at least she thought she did. She could've sworn that was Chandler but when she looked again, he wasn't there. No, she couldn't have seen him, she was just imaging things. She decided to take a nap. 

She woke up 2 hours later in a cold sweat. She had a horrible nightmare. Chandler was back, and he did it again. Not only to her but to other people too. She was so scared, if he was back then he could do it again. To other people. She didn't want this to happen to anyone else. Ever. He took away her childhood, her laugh, everything. He had to be stopped. 

She decided to take a walk, to see if he was really back in town. She knew it was stupid, that she should tell someone. But she wasn't really sure she did see him, so she decided to go without telling anyone. She told Annie she was going to meet Peter at the park and Annie said it was OK. But Annie didn't know that Ruthie hadn't seen or talked to Peter for a month. 

Ruthie set out on her walk. She thought she saw him up ahead, far in the distance, but she blinked and he was gone. Then he was in the window across the road. Then he was in a car driving by. He was everywhere. Getting close each time until he was finally in front of her. She screamed. She started running back to the Camden's house. But she tripped. She had fallen and now he was going to get her. He was going to do it again. She was so scared, she was crying. She could feel a sharp pain in her knee from where she fell. She turned and looked back. No one was there. She stood up, her knee was bleeding. She wiped her tears off her face. She was shaking. That was one of the scariest moments of her life. She walked back home, looking at the ground so she couldn't see anything. She was almost at the house when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She screamed and jumped around. It was Peter. 

"You scared me half to death!!!" Ruthie said.

"Sorry. Well, what's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost. And where you crying? Your eyes are all red. Ruthie, are you OK?" Peter asked, getting worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ruthie lied.

Peter nodded "So long time, no see" 

"Yeah, I know." Ruthie said. She just wanted to go home.

"How are you? What's been going on in your life?" Peter asked.

"I'm fine and a lot has been going on in my life. I have to go" Ruthie started to walk away.

"Wait, Ruthie" Peter grabbed her arm.

"LET GO OF ME! DON'T TOUCH ME!! EVER!!!" Ruthie screamed.

"Whoa!! Ruthie, look I'm sorry. Something's wrong. Please tell me. We used to be best friends. What happened?" Peter asked.

"Well, you changed schools and I never got to see you and then.. Never mind" Ruthie told him.

"No, what? Tell me, please?" Peter said.

"No. Not now." Ruthie said.

"When?" Peter asked.

"I don't know. Maybe never." Ruthie replied. Peter frowned.

"So, who are you hanging out with now?" Peter asked.

"No one, you?" Ruthie replied. 

"No one" Peter sighed. "I gotta go" 

"Me too. Bye" Ruthie said.

"Bye" Peter ran off. 

Ruthie ran the rest of the way home. 


	19. Simon's Help

*Sorry this chapter is so short, I Have to go out so yeah*

Chapter 19

When Ruthie reached her house, she was so out of breath from running, she decided to sit outside. She closed her eyes and lay her head on the table. All of a sudden, just like a movie, her "counselling" sessions with Chandler played through her head. She was so scared because she couldn't make them stop. She ran in to the house crying, she ran right in to Simon. 

"Ruthie! Are you OK? What's wrong?" Simon asked.

"Simon, he's everywhere. Everywhere! I need help. Everywhere I look he's there. Every time I close me eyes, I see it. Simon, it won't stop. Not until they catch him." Ruthie told him. 

Simon knew he had to help his sister. He could see by looking at her she was in so much pain. But what could he do. Suddenly he thought of an idea.

"Ruthie?" He asked "You're probably scared of going to another person to counsel you. Well, what if I do? I won't be a professional, but just talking to me should help."

"You'd do that for me?" Ruthie asked.

"Of course. I love you, Ruthie" Simon said.

"I love you too Simon." Ruthie hugged her brother.

She went upstairs and got ready for dinner.


	20. The First Session

Chapter 20-

Simon and Ruthie decided to start they're sessions after dinner. They also decided not to tell Eric and Annie because they didn't know how they'd react and they didn't want them to try to help. 

During dinner, everyone talked about the same things. Kevin talked about work, Lucy talked about school, Annie talked about whatever she did that day and Sam and David talked to each other. It was pretty boring. Simon said a bit about school and Ruthie didn't say anything, but no one asked her too. No one ever bothered her much anymore. Finally dinner was over. They all helped to clear the table and was dishes, then they went to Simon's room, because they didn't want Lucy to walk in.

"Simon, are you really sure about this. I mean some of the stuff may hurt you and will be disturbing, so are you sure?" Ruthie asked after Simon shut the door.

"Yes, Ruthie, I'm sure. I know it might be hard to hear some of it, but it's helping you. So I'm ok." Simon replied.

"Where should we start?" Ruthie asked.

"I'm not really sure. Why not tell me about when you first started cutting, and we'll go from there." Simon said.

"Ok, Well It sorted started when Grandpa died. Mom and Dad didn't seem to be around after that and everyone else in the family was busy with something. Then at school, I wasn't "cool" enough to hang out with any of my friends anymore. So, one morning I was cutting a bagel and I accidentally cut my finger. I started "accidentally" cutting myself a lot on things. That's when I remembered Nicole. I was looking at pictures with Lucy and I saw her picture, but I forgot who it was, so I asked her and she told me. That's when I started using kitchen knifes, razors and razor blades and cutting my wrist or legs or whatever." Ruthie told Simon.

"I see" Simon said with tears in his eyes at the pain his little sister had inside of her. It broke his heart to hear her stories of pain and hate for herself. 

"And then what happened next" He asked.

"I had been mostly cutting my wrists until my birthday, when they wanted me to try on the dress, I decided to switch to legs. But the next day at school was particularly bad so I went in the bathroom to cut and then I thought to myself, will this ever end? I didn't think it would so I pushed the blade further in to my skin then ever. I remember the pain. It hurts so much and it started to bleed. A lot. I wrapped it toilet paper and started to walk to class, but I was so dizzy and in so much pain, that I thought I was going to die. I realized then that I didn't want to die. But I was sure I was going to. That's when I blacked out. I don't remember anything until I woke up in the hospital." Ruthie finished.

Simon looked at the clock 7:30p.m. 

"That's enough for tonight. Well we can continue tomorrow after dinner ok?" Simon said. Ruthie nodded and left his room. Simon was hurting now. He couldn't help but feel that this was partially his fault. If he had been there earlier, maybe none of this would have happened. Why did this happen to Ruthie? She was such a nice and very intelligent girl. She had so much potential, what if she had of died? Then a stupid thought crossed through Simon's head. What if he took the razor Ruthie gave him and tried cutting once, just to see how Ruthie felt. He walked over, opened his drawer and pulled the razor out. He sat on his bed and put the blade to his skin. He was about to pull it across when Ruthie walked in.

"Simon, I just wanted to- Simon! What are you doing?" Ruthie asked.

"I was just- just uh." Simon stuttered.

"Just what!?! Maybe this counselling thing isn't working. I'm sorry for doing this to you." Ruthie said. A tear ran down her cheek. She walked over to Simon's bed and took the razor from his hand. She hugged him.

"Don't do it. Please Simon. I love you, and I couldn't bear to see it happen to you" Ruthie said and started to walk out of the room.

"Ruthie wait." Simon shouted. Ruthie turned around.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to see what it was like. It's not your fault, and we should continue the counselling." He said.

"Maybe later" Ruthie said and walked out of the room. Simon hated himself right now for doing that to Ruthie. Ruthie walked in to her room. Lucy and Kevin were both in there, kissing. 

"I'm sorry to interrupt you guys but can you take this and hide it?" Ruthie said, pulling the razor out of her sweater.

"I thought Simon had it" Lucy said.

"Well, I don't want him to have it anymore. I want you to have it. And hide it. After all, it is yours." Ruthie said.

Lucy gave her a weird look as she took the razor. "Ok, I will hide it" she said. 

Ruthie hugged her. "Thanks Lucy, I love you" 

"I love you too Ruthie" Lucy said and Ruthie left the room. She went to have a bath. In the bath, she was deep in thought. Mostly about what she did to Simon. She also wondered if she was over cutting now. Maybe should didn't need Lucy to keep it. But still, just in case. She got out of the bath and went in to her room. Kevin and Lucy were gone, because they knew it was her bedtime. She yelled goodnight to the whole house and then she shut off her light and went to her bed.


	21. Just Once

Chapter 21

Simon was the last person to wake up the next morning. It was Saturday, so no one had any plans until night time. The first thing he knew he had to do was talk to Ruthie. He saw her coming up the stairs.

"Ruthie, Wait!" He shouted.

"What?" Ruthie asked.

"I just wanted to apologize." Simon said.

"For what? You didn't do anything. I should be apologizing." Ruthie told him.

"Why?" Simon asked.

"Because it's all my fault. If I hadn't told you the story, you would be just fine. Oh, I'm so sorry Simon" Ruthie said.

"Ruthie, listen. This isn't your fault. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I want to continue the sessions, because I think they'll help a lot." Simon told his little sister.

"Maybe in a while we can continue Simon, but I think you need some time to get use to it all. I understand that, I mean this all sounds crazy and weird to you. So maybe next week we can continue, oh and by the way. I gave the razor to Lucy." Ruthie said

Simon nodded. Then they heard the door open. 

"Mom's back from shopping." Ruthie said.

"We better go help her" Simon replied. They ran downstairs.

"Ruthie, guess who I ran in to today?" Annie asked.

"Umm.. My teacher? Sergeant Michaels?" Ruthie guessed.

"Nope, Paris. Peter's mom." Annie said.

"Okay.. So what?" Ruthie asked.

"Well, I invited Peter over for dinner. He'll be over at 4 O'clock." Annie excitedly told Ruthie.

"Great" Ruthie said in a fake voice.

Once they had finished putting the groceries away, Ruthie went upstairs to change for when Peter arrived. When she came out of her room, Simon was there.

"Why don't you want to see Peter?" He asked.

"I don't know" Ruthie replied.

"Yes, you do. Besides I thought you guys were friends." Simon said.

"We were, but I haven't really talked to him since he changed schools. Thursday was the first time I'd seen him in a month." Ruthie told Simon.

"Well, what did you talk about?" Simon asked.

"Well, he kept asking me what was wrong but I wouldn't tell him and then he asked me who I was hanging out with and I said no one and when I asked him he said no one and ran off." Ruthie explained.

"Well, it sounds like you guys could both use a friend." said Lucy, who was just coming up the stairs. 

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to eavesdrop, it was an accident" Lucy said.

"It's okay, and Lucy is right Ruthie. I think you guys could both use a friend right about now." Simon said.

Ruthie sighed. "I guess your right." 

"You don't have to tell him anything your not comfortable with, you know" Lucy said.

"Yeah, I know" Ruthie said and went in to the washroom to brush her hair.

Simon started to walk away. "Wait" Lucy called after him.

"What's up?" Simon asked.

Lucy pulled out the razor. "Here, you hold this. I don't know where to hide it." Lucy said.

Simon took the razor. He fingered it.

"Okay, Luce, I'll keep it." Simon said and walked in to his room. Lucy had no idea what she had just done.

Simon was still toying with the razor when he heard the doorbell ring. Peter must be here, he thought to himself. That means Ruthie will be busy all day, and Lucy is going out with Kevin. Maybe I could try it.. Just once. 


	22. Peter

Sorry I took so long to get this up. I really am. I've been busy. Really sorry.

Chapter 22 

Simon put the razor to his wrist. He started to pull it across, then he stopped. He thought of his mom, he thought of his dad, he thought of Matt, of Mary, of Lucy, of Sam and David, of Sarah, of Kevin, of Robbie, of Ben and especially of Ruthie. He knew he was helping her so much by just letting her talk. He had already ruined it so much, he needed to get her to trust him again. He removed the razor and he through it in the trash can next to his bed. He looked at his wrist, no scratch or anything. He looked up to god. 

"Thank you for stopping me. I really want you to help Ruthie get better after everything that happened to her. She's been through so much. Please let her trust me again so I can help her get better and get through this." He said aloud.

Little did he know Ruthie was watching through the door. She ran inside and hugged Simon. 

"I love you so much, you're the best." She cried.

"I love you too Ruthie" He hugged her back.

"Where's Peter?" Simon asked.

"Oh, he's in the bath room" Ruthie replied. They heard the bathroom door close.

"Got to go" Ruthie said and she ran out. 

"Hey Peter." She said

"Hey" Peter replied

"What do you want to do?" He asked

"Let's go up to my room and catch up on stuff." Ruthie suggested.

Peter nodded and they both ran up. Peter sat down on Lucy's bed and Ruthie sat on her bed.

"So, Peter, how's your new school?" Ruthie asked.

"I hate it. I want to come back to your school. How's your life?" he asked.

Ruthie thought about what to say, then she remembered what Lucy said. "You don't have to tell him anything your not comfortable with."

"Well, I won't lie. It hasn't been great. I haven't really been hanging out with anyone at school. They all ditched me." Ruthie said.

They were both looking nervous and uncomfortable until Peter spoke. 

"Ruthie, I really like you. You were my best friend, and I really missed you. " 

"I've missed you too." She said, remembering before her grandpa died when she would sometimes cry because Peter would be out with other girls. Ruthie liked him as a boyfriend. She always wished he liked her that way.

Peter sighed. "I like you, Ruthie. A lot. And not just as a friend." Ruthie lit up. She still liked Peter, but she had lost all hope that something would happen between them.

"Peter. I like you too, I have for so long." Ruthie said.

"Really? I always thought you liked Jake, even after you dumped him." Peter said.

"No, I did like Jake then he became annoying. Ever since I met you, I liked you." Ruthie replied. Peter walked over and sat on Ruthie's bed. They stared at each other until finally Peter leaned over and kissed Ruthie.


	23. Kissing

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them.

A/N- sorry it took so long to update but I was having a bit of writers block.

Chapter 23

Peter pulled away. Ruthie opened her eyes.

"Wow" She said quietly.

"Did you- Was there anything there?" Peter asked.

"I saw fireworks" Ruthie replied "Did you- I mean-" 

Peter interrupted. "Yeah, I did" he told her. Peter leaned over again and he kissed her once more, and Ruthie kissed him back. They made out lying on Ruthie's bed until they heard Annie's voice call them for dinner. They both ran down the stairs, grinning. 

"Peter's mom is coming to pick him up at 8 o'clock so you guys can go play upstairs for a while after dinner, ok?" Annie told them. They both nodded. They were both eating really fast and they finished first. Luckily, it was Lucy's turn to do the dishes so they took they're plates in to the kitchen and after dessert, ice cream, they went upstairs. They both sat back on Ruthie's bed.

"What do you want to do now?" Peter asked. 

Ruthie smiled and leaned over and kissed him. They lay down together on Ruthie's bed and kissed some more. Peter started kissing her neck. Ruthie was smiling but she was worried. She didn't want to go any further tonight than just kissing.

Lucy had just gotten back from her date and was on her way upstairs to change, she stopped to talk to Simon for a bit and then made her way up the attic stairs. She looked into the room she and Ruthie shared. Her little sister and Peter were lying on Ruthie's bed making out, then Peter started to kiss her neck. 

"Uh, hello" Lucy said. Ruthie jumped up.

"Lucy," Ruthie said "You're home early."

"Yeah, Uh, What are you doing?" Lucy asked.

"I have to go to the washroom" Peter said, he figured Lucy wanted to talk to Ruthie. Peter ran downstairs. Lucy sat on her bad.

"Ruthie, what are you doing?" Lucy asked. 

"We were just kissing." Ruthie replied. 

"That was not 'just kissing', Ruthie. Your 12! You shouldn't be doing things like that" Lucy told her.

Ruthie sighed. "What should 12 year olds be doing, Lucy?" Ruthie asked, sarcastically. 

"Look, Ruthie, I'm serious. You shouldn't be lying in bed making out with Peter!" Lucy replied. 

"You made out with guys you didn't even know!" Ruthie yelled.

"Fine, Ruthie, do what you want. It's your life. You should know the conveniences after what happened, but I guess you don't. So do whatever you want, Ruthie. I don't care, It's none of my business!" Lucy told her, quite calmly, and then walked out of the room. The second she got out of the room, she burst in to tears. She didn't want her sister to be like this. She cared about her sister, she loved Ruthie and she felt horrible about what she just said, she wanted to run back and apologize, but she saw Peter coming back upstairs. She wanted to yell at him, tell him to leave her sister alone, but she couldn't say them to him, he was just a kid, after all. 

"Peter? Please cool it with my sister." Lucy said and went downstairs, not bothering to wait for a reply. 

When Peter got into the attic, Ruthie had her faced buried in her pillow and she was sobbing. Peter walked over and sat on the bed where she was lying. 

"Are you alright Ruthie?" He asked. Ruthie sat up, her cheeks hot and red and her eyes were red and puffy. Her pillow was soaked in tears. 

"No," she replied "I'm not OK." She started crying even harder. Peter hugged her. They hugged for what seemed like hours. They heard the doorbell ring. 

"I gotta go, Ruthie." He said "That'll be my mom." 

"Please don't leave me, Peter" Ruthie begged.

"I have to go, I'm sorry." Peter told her.

"Please, no" Ruthie cried.

Peter kissed her. "Bye Ruthie" 

"One more kissed" Ruthie begged, she longed for his kiss, his touch . She would do anything for him if he just gave her love.

Peter kissed her again and he got up to leave. 

"Bye Ruthie!" He called out.

"Bye" Ruthie sulked.


	24. I don't know

DISCLAIMER: I don't own 7th Heaven or anything to do with it.

A/N- Hey guys. Look I'm really really sorry I haven't updated. Bad writers block. I'll try to add a few chapters tonight. If you have any ideas, email me brokenglass13_@hotmail.com. Sorry again guys!!

Chapter 24

Downstairs, Lucy was reading a book for school when she saw Peter leave. She ran upstairs, crying the whole way. When she got to the attic, she saw her sister crying on her bed. 

"I'm so sorry Ruthie! I didn't mean to hurt you, it's just that your so smart and you have so much going for you, I don't want you to get-" Lucy thought about what she was going to say, after all, Ruthie had almost been pregnant.. "hurt. I love you Ruthie, and I can't bear to see you doing this to yourself. You've been through so much, and you've been so brave and strong. I don't want you rushing in to a relationship and doing stuff after everything that happened." Lucy sat down on her bed.   
Ruthie sighed. "I'm sorry too, Lucy. I really like Peter, and we weren't exactly doing anything you didn't do when you were my age. I'm sorry for acting the way I did to you. I love you too". Ruthie hugged her sister.   
Simon walked upstairs. He saw his two sisters hugging. They both looked like they had been crying.   
"Hey, guys. What's wrong?" Simon said.  
"Oh, nothing. We worked it out." Ruthie said.  
Simon nodded. "So… Mom wants to know if you guys want to come downstairs and watch a movie."  
"We haven't done that in so long." Ruthie said.

"I know…what movie are we watching?" Lucy asked.

"Left Behind" Simon said.

"Oh, I love that movie, Kirk Cameron is so cute!" Lucy exclaimed. They all ran down the stairs. Annie had just put the twins to be and they all settled into the living room to watch the movie.

*********

(Peter's house)

Peter was upstairs in his bedroom, thinking about his awesome night with Ruthie, but had he gone too far? Lucy seemed really upset and she told him to cool it, but he really liked Ruthie. Then he thought of something. He could hear Lucy yelling at Ruthie from downstairs, and he didn't catch all that she had said but he remembered one thing "You should know the consequences after what happened, but I guess you don't." What was Lucy talking about? What had happened to Ruthie? He was so confused. He decided to try to talk to her about it later, right now he needed to ask his mom something. He walked over to her room.   
"Mom, Umm… Is there anyway I can go back to my old school again, please!" He begged.  
Paris sighed. "But I thought you liked it there"  
"No, I like my old school better" Peter explained.  
"I thought it would have been good for you, getting a second chance after everything that happened. Why do you want to go back?" Paris asked.  
"Because I miss Ruthie. I miss having her as a best friend. I miss having friends." Peter sighed. "Please can I go back?"  
"Yeah, If you want too. You never told me any of this. You never tell me anything anymore. Are you OK, Peter?" Paris asked, concerned.  
"I don't know, mom" Peter said.


	25. Basketball

A/N- So sorry I haven't updated in awhile:(. I'll try and update more, Promise! Thanks alexpatra for the great storylines. I'm going to use some of them real soon :)

*Peter's House (Still)*

"Well, If you need to talk, I'm here." Paris said.

"Okay, I'm going to go call Ruthie."

"Alright."

Peter ran into his room and grabbed his phone. He was beaming as he called Ruthie.

"Hello?" A voice answered from the other end.

"Hey. Is Ruthie there?" Peter asked. 

"One second. RUTHIE!" The voice yelled. Ruthie picked up the phone in her room.

"I got it!" She said. "Hello"

There was a click, the other person hung up.

"Hey Ruthie, it's Peter. Who was that?"

"Oh that was Ben, Kevin's brother."

"Oh yeah, okay."

"So..What's up?" Ruthie asked?

"I just wanted to tell you I'm coming back to our school."

"That's great."

"Yeah"

"So do you want to go to the park after school tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Okay."

"I can come get you at 11, if that's okay." Peter said.

"11's fine." Ruthie said. "I gotta go, bye!"

*The Next Day*

Ruthie woke up at 10 O'clock. She showered and got dressed. She put on a pair of black Capri's and a tank top with a big sweater on top. She did her hair in a messy bun and a bit of make-up. She was just about to go downstairs when the doorbell rang. She glanced at her alarm clock, which she could barely see from where she was standing. 10:50. It was probably Peter. She ran downstairs and grabbed the door. Sure enough Peter was standing there. He had long black shorts and a white baggy T-Shirt. He was carrying a basketball. 

"Hey Ruthie. You look nice. Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yep. One second. MOM!!" She shouted.

"Yeah?" Annie shouted back.

"I'm leaving!!!"

"Alright. Be back before dinner! Peter can stay too if he'd like!" Annie called down.

"Okay, bye!" Ruthie called back and left.

"You want to stay for dinner?" She asked. 

"I don't care. Only if you want me to."

"Sure." Ruthie replied. Peter started dribbling the basketball as they crossed the street to get to the park.

"I didn't know you played basketball."

"Yeah, I'm not very good though. You wanna play when we get there?"

"Sure."

"Aren't you hot in that sweater?" Peter asked. "I'm roasting!"

"Er.. I'm fine" Ruthie said.

"Oh.. Umm.. Okay then." Peter said. They both spotted the park. They ran towards it. Ruthie was getting really hot in the California sun, but she still had lots of very visible scars and Peter didn't know yet. Only a few scars could been seen from her Capri's and you couldn't tell they were made by her. They kept running all the way to the basketball court. Not many people were at the park. It was too hot for little kids to be playing outside today. She glanced over to the jungle gym. She saw an eight year old girl sitting alone at the top of the slide. Then she saw Chandler. He was creeping up behind her. 

"NO!!" Ruthie shouted, as loud as she could. The little girl jumped. Ruthie looked at Peter and looked back to the girl, Chandler wasn't there. She realized he never was there. She started questioning whether or not she'd ever get over everything that had happened to her.

"Uh, Ruthie?" Peter said, looking annoyed. 

"I'm sorry" Ruthie said.

"Are you alright? What was all that screaming for? What happened?" Peter questioned.

"Oh it was nothing. Let's just play basketball."

"Okay" Peter said, suspiciously.

They had been playing for twenty minutes already and it was so hot! Ruthie had the ball and was just about to throw it in. She reached her arms up and her sweater sleeves fell down. She threw the ball as quick as she could and pulled her sleeves down. She tried to continue on as if nothing had happened, but she knew Peter saw the scars.

"Ruthie, What are tho-"

"Lets go home. We can talk about this there." She replied.


	26. The Sickness

A/N- Sorry If some of this doesn't make sense with the rest of the story. It's been awhile since I've updated.

The whole way home neither of them said anything. Peter wanted to, but he knew Ruthie didn't want to talk. Yet. At least he hoped she'd talk, later. He wasn't quite sure of what he saw. They looked like scars, but why did Ruthie have scars on her wrist. If they were just from something normal, he figured she would have said something, but she didn't so he thought maybe she was… cutting herself… but why would Ruthie Camden being cutting herself. It had only been a month since they'd last spoken (before they had been reunited) and Peter didn't think that much could've happened in a month. If he only knew just how wrong he was. 

They arrived at the Camden's at exactly 1:00. 

"You guys are back early." Annie said.

"Yeah, it was too hot out. Were going to hang out in my room, okay?" Ruthie explained.

"Sure, that's fine." Annie said and Ruthie ran upstairs. Peter ran fast to catch up. Ruthie was being really weird right now. Peter wasn't sure if she had even blinked since they left the park. Ruthie sat on her bed and Peter sat on Lucy's bed. Ruthie sighed.

"I don't know what you saw bu-"

"I do" Peter interrupted.

"Do you?"

"Yes. They were scars. Not just one. 10, at least. Why didn't you just tell me?"

Damn, Ruthie thought. She thought he just caught a glimpse of one but apparently not.

Peter was kind of bluffing. He really only saw two, but he wanted her to tell him the truth, so he lied.

"I was scared." Ruthie finally said.

"Well when did this happen? I didn't know so much could happen in a month"

"You'd be surprised." Ruthie muttered.

"Pardon?" Peter said.

"Never mind."

"Well when did you start.. You know…?"

"Cutting? Peter It's okay, you can say it."

"Okay, when did you start .. Cutting?

"A while ago. Months ago."

"What!?" 

"Yeah."

"I never knew."

"I know."

"Why didn't you trust me enough to tell me?"

"It wasn't that."

"What was it then?"

"I just didn't want to."

"Why did you start?"

"I don't know."

"Do you still do it?"

"Haven't in awhile. I gave my razor" Peter flinched when she said that "to Simon. He's been counselling me."

"Why didn't you go to a real counsellor?"

"I did but- I umm.."

"But what? What is it Ruthie?"

Ruthie felt her eyes burn. She told this story so many times, but it was still so painful and still so fresh in her mind.

"Nothing." Ruthie said, and started to sob. Peter walked over and sat beside her. She was all for him touching her yesterday, but today she wanted him to leave. Peter pulled Ruthie in to a hug. She pulled away. Peter was getting worried. 

"Ruthie, please. What happened?"

Still sobbing, Ruthie shook her head over and over, as if that would make it go away.

"Nothing happened!" She screamed. She moved her hands away from her face and looked up. Her Capri's and her sweater were covered in tears. She glanced out the window. She saw Chandler. She felt sick. She looked all around the room. He was everywhere. She was crying hysterically now, and feeling so dizzy. She felt the need to throw up. She ran into the washroom, slammed the door and puked. Again and Again. She couldn't help it. She felt awful. 

Simon ran into Ruthie's room. 

"Where is she?" He asked.

"She's in the bathroom."

"What happened?"

Peter explained about the park and everything. 

"I'll be right back. I'm going to see if she's alright. As he approached the bathroom, he heard the sound of someone throwing up. 

"Ruthie, are you okay?"

She couldn't answer. She continued to sob and vomit. Now she was shaking too.

"MOM!!" Simon screamed! "MOM! COME HERE!!"

Annie ran up the stairs, Peter ran out of the bedroom and Lucy ran from the twins room.

Simon eyes filled with tears.

"We have to get her to the hospital!" Annie declared. Peter left, Lucy watched the twins and Annie and 

Simon got Ruthie and took her too the hospital. She was pale and green and looked horrible. Simon thought she was going to die. Ruthie thought so too.


	27. The Hospital Again

Chapter 27

A/N- This will most likely be the last chapter for a couple weeks. I'll be away. Sorry. 

Annie drove faster than she ever had to get to the hospital. She was certain she was breaking a couple laws. Ruthie looked like death warmed over. [A/N -Sorry I know that's cheesy.] Simon was sitting with Ruthie leaning against him. She kept fading in and out. Simon kept calling her name, over and over. Ruthie could barley hear him. They arrived at the ER 3 minutes after they left home. They ran inside as quickly as they could, Simon carrying his baby sister, fearing for her life. When the nurse saw Ruthie's condition, she immediately admitted her. They brought out a stretcher and wheeled her in to a room. Simon and Annie were forced to wait outside in the waiting room. They were both crying. Annie called Eric, to tell him where they were. He would be arriving home from his counselling shortly.

"Hello." Eric answered.

"Eric! Thank god your still there." Annie said.

"Why? What happened? Where are you?" Eric asked.

"At the hospital." Annie answered.

"Why?"

"Ruthie."

"Oh my goodness. What happened?"

"I don't know. She got really sick. Throwing up a lot and she's completely pale and slightly green and she keeps blacking out." Annie started to cry again. "Oh, Eric. I'm so worried. She's with the doctors now."

"I'm coming over right now." Eric hung up the phone and got in his car. Annie hung up the pay phone and sat back down. Simon looked at her.

"What did dad say?" He asked.

"He's coming right over."

Simon smiled.

About 10 minutes later Eric showed up.

"Where's Ruthie?" He asked, without bothering to say hello to Annie or Simon.

"In that room." Annie said, pointing to a small room just down the hall.

Eric sat down beside them. 2 hours slowly passed and a doctor finally walked out of the room. He walked straight over to where they were seated.

"Camden's, Right?" He asked. They nodded.


	28. Been Better

Chapter 28-

A/N- So sorry for not updating sooner. I'm going to add one chapter now then add more when I update the rest. This chapter might be short, and might suck, but bear with me okay? What do you guys think should be wrong with her? Feel free to email or IM me or leave in your reviews anything you thing should happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What did dad say?" He asked.

"He's coming right over."

Simon smiled.

About 10 minutes later Eric showed up.

"Where's Ruthie?" He asked, without bothering to say hello to Annie or Simon.

"In that room." Annie said, pointing to a small room just down the hall.

Eric sat down beside them. 2 hours slowly passed and a doctor finally walked out of the room. He walked straight over to where they were seated.

"Camden's, Right?" He asked. They nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How's Ruthie?" Annie asked in a shaky tone.

"She's doing better. We are running some tests on her to find out what she has. She will need to stay in the hospital overnight." The doctor told them.

"I'll stay with her." Simon declared. Annie nodded.

"I will too. Eric can you go home and watch-" Annie started.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll take care of everything at home." 

Eric left the hospital and the Doctor showed Simon and Annie where they could stay in Ruthie's room. There were two chairs in the room or they could sleep in the waiting room. They both decided to sleep on the chairs. The nurse brought in blankets and pillows. Simon glanced over at Ruthie, she was awake.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey"

"How are you feeling?"

"I've been better." Ruthie said and smiled. Simon smiled too.

"You guys don't have to stay" Ruthie said, after the nurse left.

"We want too." Annie replied.

She leaned over and hugged Ruthie. 

"I love you sweetie" 

"I love you too mom" 

"We should try to get some sleep" Annie said. Her and Simon both sat down and tried to get comfortable.

*At Home*

Eric walked in the door and walked in to the kitchen. Lucy and Kevin were sitting at the table with Sam and David. Lucy stood up and walked over to him.

"How's Ruthie?" She asked.

"Better. The doctors ran some tests and we will find out what's wrong with her later. She has to stay overnight though and your mom and Simon are staying with her."

"I hope she's okay." Lucy said.

"Me too." Eric said.

"What's wrong with Ruthie" Sam asked.

"I think it's time for you two to go to bed." Eric said.

"I'll take them up." Kevin said.

"Thanks" Eric said. 

Lucy hugged Eric.

"I hope there's nothing seriously wrong with her" Lucy said.

Eric nodded.


	29. Control

Okay, I know you all hate me now. I'm so sorry. I've been so lazy. SORRY!!!!!!

Chapter 29- Control

Ruthie woke up and rolled over to look at the clock. 9:00a.m. She noticed Simon and her mom were still sleeping so she closed her eyes again, trying to get a couple more hours of sleep. She finally drifted into a deep sleep when she had a dream. A horrible dream. Her mom and Simon had woken up and left her and Chandler had snuck into her room. He locked the door and looked at her, with the exact look he had in his eyes at the church. She started crying, and yelling 'go away', but he wouldn't listen. He kept staring with the same creepy look in his eyes. All of a sudden she felt a hand on her shoulder, but the hand felt real, not like the dream. She screamed.

"It's okay." Simon told her. "You were just having a bad dream."

She felt a tear drip down my cheek. She was scared now, scared Chandler would control her life forever, scared of losing my faith in god, scared of not being able to go back to church, scared of losing Peter, scared of so much. She just wanted this whole thing to end. It was all her fault to begin with, she thought. If only she hadn't tried to kill myself, if only she'd just stuck to cutting. If only..

Simon pulled her into a hug.

"I love you Ruthie. Don't be scared anymore, don't let Chandler control you." Simon said, it was like he could read her mind. "I think you should go see another therapist. I could go with you and then if you didn't like them, if you had a bad feeling about them, you would never have to go back and I wouldn't let them hurt you. I'm just so sorry you've had to go through all this. You're very brave and very strong Ruthie."

She started crying harder. "I love you so much Simon, thanks for being there for me"

"Anytime" He said and she felt a tear fall on to her shoulder.

We parted from the hug and Simon sat in the chair he slept in. She was staring intently on the doorway, knowing what she had to do. She had to stop pretending she was okay and gain control over Chandler, she had to tell Peter what was going on because he was a good friend and he'd help her out always. She had to get some help and she knew her family would be there for her no matter what.

Annie walked in and broke Ruthie's concentration on the door.

"Good news," Annie smiled. "The doctors say we can go home today after they do a quick check-up."

"When are they going to do the check-up?" Ruthie asked.

"Right now." Said a man walking through the door, he had brown hair and big eyes and kind of resembled…. Chandler. Ruthie shook her head. No, no, she thought, this man is probably nothing like Chandler.

"Are you feeling better" The man, who's name tag said "Dr. Simpson" asked.

"Yeah, a lot better." Ruthie told him.

"That's great." He replied, cheerily. 

He did a quick check-up and then said she was free to go. Ruthie jumped off the bed and started down the hallway to the exit.

Simon went with her but Annie stayed behind to talk to the doctor.

"What do you think is wrong with her?" Annie asked, concerned.

"I don't know, ma'am. She seems fine now, it could be nothing, she could have just gotten her self worked up over something, or she could have something serious. Well find out in a couple days. In the meantime, if anything strange happens bring her right back here and maybe see what happened before the incident."

Annie nodded.

Meanwhile Ruthie and Simon were at the hospital exit,

"Where's mom?" Ruthie asked.

"Talking to the doctor." Simon answered

"Oh." Ruthie sighed. "Do you think something is seriously wrong with me?" She asked Simon.

"Let's not think about that now."

Annie came down the hall and they all got in the car and went home.


	30. Very Nice Girl

****

Chapter 30-

Ruthie entered the house to see her whole family waiting for her. Lucy ran over and hugged her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked. 

"Great!" Ruthie replied. 

"That's good." Eric said and Ruthie ran over and hugged him.

"Well, I'm going to go upstairs." Ruthie told them and she ran in to her room and called Peter.

"Hello" he answered.

"Peter, hey. I just wanted to apologize for last night." Ruthie told him.

"Apologize? For what?" Peter asked.

"Being sick, and not telling you anything."

"You shouldn't apologize for either." Peter explained. "Being sick was not your fault and you don't have to tell me anything you don't want too. I was so worried about you, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Ruthie told him.

"Look, I have to go, but do you want to come over for dinner?" Peter asked.

"Is it okay with your mom?" Ruthie asked.

"Yup."

"Sure, what time?" 

"Around 5:30-6:00."

"Okay see you then."

Ruthie hung up and ran downstairs to ask her mom if she could go.

"Mom, would it be okay if I went to Peter's for dinner?"

"Don't you want to eat with your family tonight?"

"Sure, but I also want to go to Peter's. It's been awhile since I've been to his house. May I please go?"

Annie sighed. "Fine, you can go." 

"Thanks so much!" Ruthie exclaimed and hugged her mom.

**

Peter's House

Ruthie rang the doorbell at 5:45. She was wearing jeans and a rugby long sleeve shirt. Peter answered the door.

"Hey, come on in." He said. Ruthie smiled. He kissed her on the cheek. 

"Do you want to come up to my room until dinner is ready?" Peter asked.

"Sure." Ruthie replied and they ran down the hall to Peter's room. 

"I hope you don't mind," Peter said, sitting down on his bed, "but my mom's new boyfriend is joining us for dinner." 

"Oh, that's okay. Is he nice?" Ruthie asked.

"Yeah, he is. You know him, from church, he works with your dad, Chandler Hampton is his name." Peter replied.

"Chandler?! Chandler is coming here?!" Ruthie said, freaking out.

"Yeah, is that okay?" Peter asked.

"Peter, I have to go. I'm sorry."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I just don't really like Chandler, that's all."

"Well, if you get to know him better, you'll like him."

"Peter, you don't understand." Ruthie sighed. "I have to go."

*Ding Dong*

"Well, he's here now." Peter said. Ruthie was fighting to hold back tears. Not only would she have to see Chandler, she'd have to eat dinner with him. She couldn't hold back the tears much longer, as a single teardrop fell down her cheek, leaving a small mark on her pants. She quickly wiped her eyes and tried to smile.

"Ruthie? Tell me why you don't like Chandler." Peter asked, quietly. He had a feeling there was much more to this the she was saying.

"I just don't." She said, finally letting all her tears out. Peter pulled her into a hug.

"It's okay, honey." Peter said.

**Downstairs** 

"Chandler, Peter is having his girlfriend over tonight, and they're going to eat with us, is that okay?"

"Of course, who is his girlfriend?"

"You know, Eric Camden's daughter Ruthie."

"Oh, Ruthie is here? That's great. She's a very nice girl." Chandler said.


	31. Group Therapy

****

Chapter 31- 

"Ruthie, Peter! Dinner!" Paris called from downstairs.

"Ruthie, I know you don't want to but please tell me why you don't like Chandler."

"Because, he-he-" Ruthie let out a new batch of tears. She never thought telling Peter would be so hard.

"He what?" Peter asked.

"raped me" she said quietly and shamefully. She told all her brother and sisters but telling Peter was different, maybe it was because Chandler was here that made it difficult. Ruthie was doubted Peter would believe her, since he actually liked Chandler.

"Oh my gosh, are you alright, do you parents know?" Peter asked.

"I'm fine and yes, they know" 

"We have to tell them he's here." Peter said. Ruthie nodded.

"But how, we can't just leave." Ruthie sighed. Peter stood up and opened his bedroom window.

"Come on, quickly!" he said, quietly. Ruthie ran over and they both climbed out of the window and ran across to Ruthie's house. They ran in the back door, and in to the dining room, where the Camden's where enjoying there dinner.

"What's wrong?" Annie asked, noticing Ruthie's red eyes.

"Chandler" Ruthie said, out of breath.

"Chandler, where's Chandler?" Eric asked.

"At my house!" Peter said.

"Why?" Lucy asked, while Kevin was calling the force and arming himself.

"My mom, they're dating." Peter managed to get out.

"Stay right here, you two." Kevin told them and left to go to arrest Chandler.

"Why don't you too go sit and watch TV in the living room?" Annie suggested.

The two nodded and they walked in to the living room and sat on the couch.

"I can't believe I thought he was a nice guy!" Peter said.

"I used to, too" Ruthie told him.

"I hate him for what he did to you." 

"Me too, but hopefully he'll be arrested and then I can try to move on."

"Have you been to counselling?" 

"That's where he-" Ruthie hesitated for a minute "raped me" 

"In the church?" Peter asked.

Ruthie nodded.

"Have you been back there?"

"I'm scared too" Ruthie admitted.

"I understand. Have you been to another therapist?"

"No.. I'm scared of that too."

"What about group therapy or a support group?"

"Maybe.. But do they have those in Glen Oak?" Ruthie asked.

"Yeah, they have a few, for different things. They have one for General Abuse, or for Sexual Abuse."

"It's sounds so weird when you say it that way, it sounds really bad." Ruthie said.

"It is really bad." Peter told her. "I think you should go."   
"I'll think about it."

"I'll go with you too, If you'd like." Peter added.

Ruthie smiled. It was an innocent smile, a smile she hadn't used in a while. She finally found a way to start gaining control.

"I think I will try that." Ruthie decided.

"Good, would you like me to go with you?" Peter asked.

"Yes, please." 

Peter smiled. He really wanted to help her. He put his arm around her, and kissed her.

"You know, not all guys are like Chandler." Peter told her. "Some of us are nice."

"I know" Ruthie smiled.

~~~***~~~***~~~

Only a couple more chapters left. Well, I wrote 3 Chapters tonight to make up for the long hiatus. Hope you like them. Bye!

~Jesi

PS- You know what's weird? Therapist, if you space it out, is the rapist. That's really weird. Just thought I'd share that.


	32. The Lawyer

Okay, again. Really, really sorry. I am horrible at having fan fictions. I really am sincerely sorry. God, I'm so lazy. Well, I'll finish it up now.

****

****

Chapter 32- The lawyer.

'Today was a pretty hectic day' Ruthie wrote. 'I went over to Peters to eat and **he **was there. Apparently Peter's mom had been dating him. Peter and me snuck out his window and ran home and told my family. Kevin called Detective Michaels and he came over with some other guys. They went over and arrested him. I have to go to court in a month. I'm so scared. Chandler is still in jail, but he can be bailed out. I hope that he isn't, because he could come back… Peter's mom was in complete shock. She just kept apologizing to me over and over. I told her it was okay, but I think she stills feels really guilty. Oh, and I decided to go to group therapy. Peters going to come with me. He's the greatest.'

Ruthie shut her dairy and safely shoved it under the mattress. She got in to bed and sighed. For the first time, she could sleep in comfort, knowing he wasn't out there.

****

When I woke up, I felt so rejuvenated. It felt as though I had slept for weeks. I was finally taking back my life. Chandler was arrested, and once we went to court, it could finally be over. For real. I was going to go to group therapy. I was going to get better. It was going to be good again. Like before any of this ever happened.

"Ruthie!" Lucy yelled, interrupting my good thoughts. "Detective Michaels and a lawyer are here about the court case and they need to talk to you" 

Ruthie jumped out of bed and quickly threw on some clothes and brushed her hair. Then she ran downstairs.

"Hello" She greeted the two men.

"Hello" Detective Michaels answered back, in a jolly voice. The other guy just nodded. He seemed nervous to be here.

"We should go sit in the living room." Eric decided and started walking. Everyone quickly followed behind, except the lawyer. Ruthie noticed he was staring at the fridge, and he didn't seem to know what was going on.

Ruthie cleared her throat. He shook out of his daze and followed the others to the living room. Ruthie sat on the couch next to her parents and the other two each took a chair.

"Ruthie," Detective Michaels began "This is John Corgen. He will be your lawyer." Ruthie turned to him. He was studying the pictures on the wall.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Corgen."

"Huh- Oh, It's nice to meet you too." He replied. Ruthie looked at him curiously, but he turned away.

"Your going to have to tell him exactly what happened and then it'll be written down and you'll have to say it in court. And we'll present all the evidence, and if theirs enough, he'll get convicted. Unless Chandler pleads guilty, and were hoping he will."

"So, if he doesn't plead guilty, there's a chance he can still not go to jail." Ruthie asked, nervously.

Everyone nodded.

***

"Hey, I heard that your lawyer was there today. How'd that go?"

Peter asked Ruthie, as they walked to the park.

"It was okay, but he's kind of weird." She explained.

"Weird? How so?"

"Well.. He just seems really nervous in our house. He was, like, in a daze staring at the fridge or the pictures on the mantle."

"Huh.. That is kind of weird." Peter agreed and she nodded. "So, have you told your parents about group therapy yet?"

"Yeah." 

"What'd they say?"

"They were quite pleased, actually. I think Simon was a little upset, but that's all"

"Why was Simon upset?"

"Well, he was counselling me and then we had to stop, because he almost cut himself."

"I see.." 

Ruthie laughed a little, realizing how crazy this all must sound. Peter joined in, and pretty soon they were crying from laughing so hard.


End file.
